Important differences between American and Canadian monetary policy

I went to my local Occupy movement this last weekend with a couple intentions. One was to simply observe and take in the spectacle of the thing and the other was to sway the opinions of the protesters to my own personal view point. As I expected, the majority of the protesters were focused on corporations and wanted to see the government do more to protect individuals from corporate power.

I might be wrong, but I think that most people on this site can see how ridiculous that is. The government is ultimately responsible for the policies which enable corporations, so appealing to the government to fix the mess it has created is probably going to fall on deaf ears. The real issues are one step further, and I think that a significant amount of people on here and on the streets get it. The real issue is the devaluation of the US dollar, either intentionally or through stupidity, by the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve and to some extent the people in the government who have some control over the Federal Reserve (ie. perhaps the president and his economic staff, but certainly not the congress).

If this is controversial to you, I suggest you consider the implications of a private central bank which is not accountable to anyone. There are numerous documentaries that can help lay this out for you but if forced to make a suggestion I would say check out The American Dream.



After hearing many in Canada complain that the Occupy protest doesn't make sense here I have been forced to agree (though I still think there are many reasons to protest and I support the Occupy movement entirely). I don't think I will have many argue that Canada's economy has not suffered the same catastrophe over the last 3 or 4 years as that of the United States. The following links show at least that I am not alone in this thinking.

Why Canada's recession wasn't as brutal
Ca nadas great recession wasnt that bad after all: Statistics Canada

My suggestion is that the following two differences are the core reason that the United States is heading to economic disaster while here in Canada we are coasting along:

1. The Bank of Canada (equivalent to the American Federal Reserve) is owned and operated by the government (it is a Crown corporation). en.wikipedia.org...
2. There is no restriction on what is considered money, meaning I can trade you my car for your gold or silver. en.wikipedia.org...

From the link above:

commercial transactions may legally be settled in any manner agreed by the parties involved with the transactions

Which is contrary to American legal tender laws which currently state (from the same link):

United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes and dues. Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts.

So, the Federal Reserve has the American people cornered. They make policy decisions which ultimately devalue the US Dollar fiat currency and then the government tells you that you are forced to deal in US Dollars for all debts. In Canada, the practice of using Bank of Canada notes is almost universal, but the threat of competition from silver and gold no doubt keep inflation in check. Unfortunately we are not immune from the disastrous inflation south of the border.

I am offering this information to you to consider as I believe it is clear that these policy differences have made Canada more capable of protecting it's citizens against the banks and also that these policies are not controversial here. Meanwhile, the only American politician of note that I am aware of who supports these policies is Ron Paul and he is considered controversial precisely for his stance that the Federal Reserve's monopoly on currency is to the detriment of all Americans. I think it would benefit all supporters of Ron Paul, as well as his campaign, to acknowledge these policy differences between the two countries as it would clearly demonstrate that his position is not controversial and has real world examples of being effective.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks, I was wondering about our Canadian system.
The reason why I was wondering as questions arose to how we acquired so much debt.
Therefore it seems even when in control of your own monetary policy, us (not U.S.) taxpayers still wind up being slaves to this debt.

Could we not print it fast enough?

Somewhere I read that the foreign banksters coerced us into debt bandage somehow instead of us making our own dough. Perhaps further reading on this matter is required.

There is no restriction on what is considered money, meaning I can trade you my car for your gold or silver.

Yes, and this makes things much easier at times. we can still trade and barter, to the point that we can purchase a house with anything that both parties agree to. As long as the monetary value is agreed to by all involved, and the appropriate fees and taxes get paid.

Actually, While i had to do some more research into it.
Part of our signing into the G7/8/20, we had to relinquish government control of the central bank. I do believe. Hold on, ill find some info

www.bankofcanada.ca...

Link

In Canada, new money comes from two sources:

-The Bank of Canada, a crown corporation, owned by the federal government.
-The chartered banks, such as the Royal Bank of Canada and the Toronto Dominion Bank.

Both these groups have the legal right to create money out of thin air without doing anyone a favour in return. You were probably aware the Bank of Canada can just print money or create it by entering a line in a ledger, but you might be surprised to learn the chartered banks can do so as well. This was not always the case. Prior to Prime Minister Mulroney, banks were required to maintain an 8% reserve. This allowed them to lend the same money out 12.5 times. Mulroney dropped the reserve rate to 0%. This means banks can lend out as much money as they please, even if they have nothing to back it. (In the USA, reserves are 3% for current accounts and 0% for savings accounts). When you consider how serious a crime counterfeiting is, it is rather odd for the government to have effectively handed over the printing plates so that banks can create money too. Unlike the Bank of Canada, the banks don’t literally print money; they create it out of thin air with a ledger entry any time they lend money. It is a strangely generous act of the federal politicians to the Canadian banks who were Canada’s most prosperous institutions even before this boon.

Also, here is part 1/4 of a Documentary on the canadian banking system.


We are part of the globalist nations, and thus we are the subject of the same things the united states and various other countries are going through. We are just as under elite control as they are, as a matter of fact. Income inequality in our country is actually climbing FASTER than the US is right now. They have some catching up to do to suck canada dry as well. We are in this together, along with everyone else.

We still export a lot of materials from canada, so it would make sense that the recession didn't effect us as much, we can still cover 'some' bills with our exports.

Unlike the Bank of Canada, the banks don’t literally print money; they create it out of thin air with a ledger entry any time they lend money. It is a strangely generous act of the federal politicians to the Canadian banks who were Canada’s most prosperous institutions even before this boon.

That part makes sense, I guess. In a one month time period, I probably only handle about $200 in physical cash, if that, everything else is digital, with the payroll deposit, online bill paying, cheques, and debit cards used for almost everything.

The Bank of Canada should pay off our debt to the banks and never borrow again. Why borrow from banks with interest when you can borrow from the Bank of Canada without interest? There is a great doc to watch called ohcanadamovie. It explains it all.. Are finance ministers are interviewed in here and they dont even know how the system works themselves. Our money is printed in Germany. WTF? It's a must watch.

Originally posted by Toadmund
Somewhere I read that the foreign banksters coerced us into debt bandage somehow instead of us making our own dough. Perhaps further reading on this matter is required.

After looking at other responses I can see that you are not alone in your suspicion. I found a chart on this page gross-canadian-federal-debt-1867-2008 which definitely suggests something catastrophic happened in the last 15 years. Looks like global warming is going to get us after all.

I think the charge leveled by AzureSky is that the government has been taking out loans for it's currency, is that correct? After watching the short video it seemed to me like we had a compound interest problem, is the claim that this interest came from the government taking bank loans?

Thanks everyone for the responses.I have to go watch this Oh Canada documentary.

Originally posted by Eddy_Jordan

Originally posted by Toadmund
Somewhere I read that the foreign banksters coerced us into debt bandage somehow instead of us making our own dough. Perhaps further reading on this matter is required.

After looking at other responses I can see that you are not alone in your suspicion. I found a chart on this page gross-canadian-federal-debt-1867-2008 which definitely suggests something catastrophic happened in the last 15 years. Looks like global warming is going to get us after all.

I think the charge leveled by AzureSky is that the government has been taking out loans for it's currency, is that correct? After watching the short video it seemed to me like we had a compound interest problem, is the claim that this interest came from the government taking bank loans?

Thanks everyone for the responses.I have to go watch this Oh Canada documentary.

Not only that, we have a Corporate tax problem too.
12+ years ago Corporations were taxed 30%.. they are now taxed 15%, and also have loopholes and taxbreaks and the like as well..

Kinda coincides with your graph there too. And yes, global warming is a big issue in canada, harper has deliberatly sabotages canadian efforts IN climate change. Tar sands. Sigh.

Originally posted by AzureSky

Not only that, we have a Corporate tax problem too.
12+ years ago Corporations were taxed 30%.. they are now taxed 15%, and also have loopholes and taxbreaks and the like as well..

Kinda coincides with your graph there too. And yes, global warming is a big issue in canada, harper has deliberatly sabotages canadian efforts IN climate change. Tar sands. Sigh.

edit on 18/10/11 by AzureSky because: (no reason given)

Do Corporations really need to be taxed at all? Aren't the people who run and work for the corporation taxed on their earnings already? Wouldn't additional taxes on the Corporation only be passed onto the consumer?

I was also sort of joking about the global warming comparison. The chart has that characteristic "hockey stick" shape that so many global warming charts have.

The sharp increase in Canadian debt since the early nineties can only (in my eyes) be related to the changes to the reserve status of private banks. According to the Oh Canada movie posted above, private banks such as RBC and CIBC are able to make loans without ANY actual reserves in their vaults. This is so close to the situation with the Federal Reserve in America that I am really a bit startled. I can only imagine that local credit unions are not afforded the same ability to essentially counterfeit money.

The one saving grace is that the Canadian government does not need to use private banks. While it is equally disgusting that private individuals going to get a mortgage from a bank are simply getting a piece of paper without any backing, when the government does it we really get screwed over. I agree, the Canadian government needs to immediately halt the procedure of taking loans from private banks and start using the Bank of Canada as it was intended. In addition, reserve requirements must be reintroduced for private banks.

In the Oh Canada documentary, Paul Martin says that he "tightened up" the reserve requirements to 7-1. I will need to fact check that statement.